S.African Producer Price Inflation Eases Sharply

By IBT Staff Reporter On 03/26/09 AT 7:35 AM

Thursday, Statistics South Africa said producer prices for domestic output rose 7.3% annually in February, at a much slower pace than the 9.2% in the previous month. Economists expected producer prices to increase 7.5%.

The producer price inflation eased mainly due to prices rising at a slower pace for basic metals, non-electrical machinery and equipment, metal products, and chemical and chemical products, among others.

Producer prices for basic metals rose 42.1% annually, slower than a 50.9% rise in the previous month. Prices of non-electrical machinery and equipment increased 15.7%, weaker than a 24.8% rise. Price rises for metal products eased to 12.7% from 17%, while it decreased to 10.2% from 11% for chemical and chemical products. At the same time, prices for mining and quarrying fell 5.9% compared to a 5.1% decline in the previous month.

Month-on-month, producer prices fell 0.3% in February compared to a 0.7% fall in January. Economists expected a decrease of 0.1%.